Alan Cochrane @ Rugby Park

A huge deflection off Simon Ford from a harmless looking Phil O'Donnell shot gave Motherwell the game's solitary goal with only 50 seconds of the second half gone, and took all three points back to Lanarkshire. In truth however, too many Killie players had an off day, and Graeme Smith in the visitors' goal was seldom troubled. Certainly towards the end Kilmarnock threw everything forward and one chance did come our way, but even to gain one point would have been hard on a Motherwell team who were marginally better for most of the game.

To be fair to both sets of players the conditions were terrible, with a strong, swirling wind playing tricks with the ball whenever it was played in the air, and a wet, greasy surface making the ball skite and shoot if it was played along the ground. This was apparent right from the start when a dropping ball that David Lilley ran under to head clear must have come down two yards to his right, and gave Ross McCormack a chance which he shot over the bar, probably because he didn't think it would come anywhere near him.

Killie did have a few chances; a Nish header that went wide, a Taouil shot that did likewise, an exquisite Nish dummy from a Clancy cross that came to nothing, but at the other end Combe had to make a few saves; a McCormack shot after a short corner, a smart save from an O'Donnell header at the near post, and of course that O'Donnell shot that did find the net with Combe looking over his shoulder in anguish.

If there was a bright spot in the gloom for Killie, it was the performance of Mehdi Taouil, who looked lively right from the start, wasn't afraid to take players on, and created space with his running and passing that few of his team-mates could take advantage of. An early example was when he carried the ball through the middle, shaped left, and sent a perfect pass to James Fowler on his right. Unfortunately, Fowler slipped as he was about to square the ball, and the chance was gone. Fowler however was one of the few other players who did play well today, but most of the front men will be far from satisfied with their performances.

Invincibile and Nish were unsurprisingly substituted, nothing went right for Gary Wales, and Willie Gibson and Aime Koudou added little when they came on. David Fernandez did try to make things work and, although he is still short of match fitness, a cute back-heel from him inside the box in the last minute set Koudou free, but the man from the Ivory Coast chose the near instead of the far post, and shot into the side netting.

Jim Jefferies thought it was a tight game, but their forwards were better than ours, and although at half time he had anticipated that the first goal would be crucial, it was unfortunate that that big deflection had given it to the visitors. He was disappointed that we hadn't created enough today, and if it got a bit better when Fernandez came on, we are not going to beat good teams like Motherwell if we do not perform at our best. He was however able to raise a smile when I suggested it would be easier next week. See you at Ibrox.

Kilmarnock: Combe, Fowler, Lilley, Ford, Nish (Koudou), Wales, Invincibile (Gibson), Murray, Dodds, Clancy (Fernandez), Taouil

Motherwell: Smith, Quinn, Paterson, Reynolds, Craigan, Lasley (Fitzpatrick), McGarry (Hughes), O'Donnell, Porter, McCormack (Murphy), Clarkson

Referee: Steve Conroy